Weekend Movie Forecast: <em>The Rite</em> Vs. <em>The Mechanic</em>
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<p>It's strange; whenever one of these possessed/exorcism movies comes out, like today's <em>The Rite</em>, it always says it's "inspired by true events." Most of these religious horror movies take place in relatively contemporary times, so isn't it a little odd that we never hear about these "actual events" on the news or anything? It's not like we read the <em>Christian Monitor</em> everyday to check, but you'd think that the church would want to publicize these actual satanic possessions as a way of proving that there are actually forces of good and evil and that the church can save you from them. Maybe a nicely timed spot on TMZ or a new TLC reality show on exorcisms (better yetâa celebrity version starring LaLohan!) would help the church get some fresh blood. Just a thought. Anyway, <em>The Rite</em> stars Sir Anthony Hopkins (it's getting harder to remember why the man was knighted to begin with) as priest Father Lucas, who introduces a skeptical seminary student into the darker side of his faith... child molestation, err, we meant Satan.</p><p></p>Reviews have been pretty bad, but what else did you expect from the Liberal Media? Pinko film reviewer Joshua Rothkopf from the leftist <a href="http://newyork.timeout.com/arts-culture/film/717859/the-rite">Time Out New York</a> says: "You wait, bored, with demons crawling up your ass, for the good stuff to start. And when it finally doesâall-white contact lenses, pulsating veins, barking voices from another dimension, etc.âitâs so typical, the mind still canât help but wander.<p></p>"Hollywoodâs hocus-pocus machine has turned out swill like this before, but even ultra-observant Catholics will find their interest waning. Hammy acting should make nonbelievers of the rest."
<p>Say what you will about Jason Statham, but he's one of the only real action stars working today. Few people watching <em>Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels</em> would have thought that the British brute would have made such an impact on popular culture. This isn't a bad thing either. Looking back to post-Willis action films, Hollywood was getting dangerously close to making either Hugh Jackman or, god forbid, Orlando Bloom into our next big action leading man. So we should thank this stoic slab of testosterone for saving action movies from a pixie man and every mother's favorite triple threat. In Statham's newest film <em>The Mechanic</em> he plays the best hitman in the business who, after discovering that his mentor and good friend was killed, vows revenge with the help of his deceased crony's son (played by the always respectable Ben Foster). So basically, the film canisters sent out to all the multiplexes the other day had written on them "Statham Revenge Movie."</p><p></p>Reviews have been mixed, with a fairly positive one coming from Josh Modell at the <a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-mechanic,50690/">A.V. Club</a> who says: "Statham and Foster play off each other nicely, and director Simon West (<em>Con Air</em>) strikes a playful balance between carnage and conviviality, gore and gregariousness. A confrontation between the two leads is inevitable, and since The Mechanic is so morally muddled to begin with, itâs difficult to tell where things are headed, or how to take sides. That isnât because these characters are well-drawn or terribly complexâthey assuredly arenâtâbut itâs still an unusual, intriguing path for a movie like this to travel.<p></p>"The only thing certain going into the climax is that guns will be fired and things will explode in style. Couple that with actual actingâStatham is the most winning action hero around, and Foster brings some nuance that the script probably doesnât deserveâand itâs bloody fun."
<p>Although we wrote about <em><a href="http://gothamist.com/2010/12/31/weekend_movie_forecast_61.php?gallery0Pic=4#gallery">Biutiful</a></em> when it first came out last month, the folks at <a href="http://www.landmarktheatres.com/Market/NewYork/NewYork_frameset.htm">Landmark Sunshine Theater</a> have decided to bring it back after it picked up Oscar nods for Best Actor (Javier Bardem) and Best Foreign Language film. So for those of you who like to marathon watch all of the nominated movies before the big day (you know who you are) you might want to head to the Landmark theater and check this one out. </p>
<p>Maybe it's because of the growing popularity of MMA (or our country's growing fear of China and their Tiger Moms) that straight up Martial Arts films are becoming few and far between. It seems like most of the great Martial Arts movies are behind us, with only a few exports coming state-side to be shown at art houses. It could also be that the target demographic for these movies gets plenty of cheap region-free Kung Fu DVDs from mall kiosks. Either way, if you're into this kind of thing, the film <em>Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster</em> comes out today and you can actually see it in theaters! The film is based on the real-life Ip Man, who, after kicking the ass of the Japanese in the Sino-Japanese war, high-tails it to Hong Kong with his family to escape persecution. There in 1949, him and his family start a new page in their lives, full of domestic drama and kicking ass.</p><p></p>Reviews have been pretty positive, with Manohla Dargis from <a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/movies/28ipman.html?ref=movies">The New York Times</a> saying: "The dynamo at the center of <em>Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster</em> doesnât leap over buildings in a single bound, but he comes entertainingly close to superhero status.<p></p>"With the exception of an overextended, two-part smackdown featuring a brutish British boxer (Darren Shahlavi), the director Wilson Yip keeps the movie moving as fast as the whiplash action. Choreographed by the film martial-arts veteran Sammo Hung, the fights are spectacularly designed and performed, relying more on muscle and skill than wirework."
<p>Former enfant terrible of independent film Gregg Araki is back with his unique blend of ultra-violent, sexually charged, and sexually ambiguous filmmaking, with his newest bombardment to the senses <em>Kaboom</em>. The hyper-stylized film follows 18-year-old college freshmen Smith, as he stumbles upon a monstrous conspiracy in a seemingly idyllic Southern California seaside town. If you're unfamiliar with Araki's work, its a visceral shitshow of sex, violence, and absurd humor. Think the lovechild of Gaspar Noe and Quentin Tarantino (both of which he preceded) as raised by John Waters. It should be a lot of effed up fun.</p><p></p>Reviews have been good, with J. Hoberman from <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-01-26/film/ambisexual-hotties-go-sky-high-in-kaboom/">The Voice</a> saying: "Now 51, Araki seems nostalgic for the self-characterized irresponsibility that was his youthful trademark. In introducing his latest film at Cannes, the director has cited his great precursor John Watersâs request that he make 'another old-school Gregg Araki movie,' and <em>Kaboom</em> shows him nearly as rambunctious as he was in the early â90s, when he burst upon the indie scene as the leading bad boy of the New Queer Cinema.<p></p>"<em>Kaboom</em> does have an excellent punchline, although even at 86 minutes it feels too longâmainly because Araki canât help letting his camera linger over his performers. Hard to blame himâheâs assembled the best-looking cast in town and itâs largely his gaga appreciation that makes the movie so much fun."
<p>Now if there's anything the American public loves more than vicariously living through celebrities and reality stars with outlandish spending habits, it's seeing said hyper-consumers go broke and become forced to live like the rest of us. Although not as appealing as if it were a reality show, the movie <em>From Prada to Nada</em> comes out today and fictionalizes this premise. Two rich kids from Beverly Hills, who refuse to acknowledge their Mexican heritage, lose their rich father to the grim reaper and are forced to live with their Spanish aunt in East L.A.. Oh my! The film follows these poor dames as they presumably make cultural-economic faux pas in their new neighborhood and income bracket, while probably finding out what really matters in life (hint: it's probably not money).</p><p></p>There's only one major review for this film, which sounds like a straight to DVD movie, and it comes from Aaron Hillis at <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-01-26/film/from-prada-to-nada-shallow-latina-centric-adaptation-of-sense-and-sensibility/">The Voice</a>, who says: "Amy Heckerling was the first to make over Jane Austen's gentry women as Beverly Hills shopaholics in the 1995 youth-culture staple <em>Clueless</em> (a witty reworking of <em>Emma</em>), but she's hardly the last as this shallow, Latina-centric adaptation of <em>Sense and Sensibility</em> attests.<p></p>"Generic rom-coms are a peso a dozen, but under all the pretty faces and MTV Latino pop, there's something crassly disingenuous about the movie's blatant demographic pandering (hooray for immigration-panic jokes!) and half-assed condemnation of gluttony."
<p>This little movie sounds like it would be most affecting going into it without any idea of what it was about. Like turning on a film like <em>13 Tzameti</em> at 2 a.m. on Netflix or cable and catching it right as it starts without a clue as to what it was about. Since many of you probably won't see this and will forget about it within a week or so anyway, we'll give you the summary because we doubt it will make the above scenario any less of a possibility. <em>Rage</em> follows two immigrant workers, Jose Maria, a hot-headed builder, and a housekeeper named Rosa, who embark on a torrid love affair. After a confrontation with his foremen ends in his bosses death, Jose Maria sneaks into the house where Rosa works, unbeknownst to either Rosa or her boss. There, while in hiding, he watches the awful abuse of Rosa by her boss and slowly grows enraged. The film was based on a book which was a cult favorite and it could turn out to be a scary little picture.</p><p></p>Reviews have been all right, with Stephen Garrett (it's Sundance season so all the second stringers are at the plate) from <a href="http://newyork.timeout.com/arts-culture/film/717821/rage">Time Out New York</a> saying: "Thatâs where the film starts to get interesting, and where the involvement of producer Guillermo del Toro (<em>Panâs Labyrinth</em>) makes itself increasingly evident: Suddenly, an otherwise pedestrian working-class drama becomes a fitfully affecting parable about social invisibility. Jose Maria can only watch from a distance as the woman he loves struggles in his absence and, as fate would have it, begins to plan her own familyâand her own futureâwithout him.<p></p>"More than a few moments feel implausible or overwrought; yet the movie, about two people so desperate to be alive, is eerily haunting."
<p>One of the most exhausting and self-sacrificing styles in all of film is cinema verite. Although it can be one of the most rewarding and revealing ways of filming a subject, it can sometimes take years to get something worth showing on film. Coming out today is the documentary <em>Strongman</em> and it took director Zachary Levy over nine years of shooting. Let's hope it pays off! The film follows Stanless Steel (hehe), the strongest man in the world at bending steel and metal (he's the only man alive who can bend a penny with his fingers) as he struggles to find purpose and meaning in his strange life. Well, at least he's got a talent going for him.</p><p></p>Reviews have been very positive, with Keith Phipps from <a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/strongman,50686/">The A.V. Club</a> saying: "Though Levyâs film feels shapeless at times, what it loses in structure, it gains in handheld intimacy, letting viewers get to know the mercurial but fundamentally sweet Pleskun. Though he doesnât doubt his own abilitiesâand stays true to a self-styled health-food diet that includes eating forbidding stacks of corn-on-the-cobâhe lets each setback hit him hard, letting drinking bring out his bitterness and dismissing his rival at a gathering of The Association Of Oldetime Barbell & Strongmen as a phony.<p></p>"Barbara, whom Pleskun recruits as his announcer despite her shortage of aptitude, ends up getting the worst of it, and the final stretch of the film becomes a portrait of two people who may need and love each other, but sometimes canât be in the same cluttered room. Not that they plan to be there forever. Stardom, after all, is always just one good gig away."
<p>Also opening today is the foreign art house drama <em>When We Leave</em>. The film follows German-born Umay, who flees with her son Cem from her oppressive husband in Istanbul. She hopes to find a better life with her family in Berlin but her unexpected arrival causes intense conflict and her family, being governed by their strict traditional values, attempt to send Cem back to his father in Turkey. Umay once again moves in order to keep her son and create a new life all the while attempting to reconcile with her divided family. So yeah, a lot of traveling and a lot of family drama. You're grandmother might call you this weekend and ask if you want to see it after she reads the review in the Times.</p><p></p>Reviews have been fairly positive with a less then stellar one coming from Keith Uhlich from <a href="http://newyork.timeout.com/arts-culture/film/717749/when-we-leave">Time Out New York</a> who says: "Aladag was inspired to make <em>When We Leave</em> by the real-life honor-killing of a Muslim woman by her disgraced family. The film has the look of unflinching truth, yet it too often feels like a calculated ploy to stoke viewersâ liberal-guilty consciences.<p></p>"A large number of histrionic, on-the-nose sequencesâone doozy in particular wouldnât pass muster in a Paul Haggis scriptâcounteract some very real virtues, chief among which is Kekilli. Her impassioned performance often makes you forget youâre watching a screed that, sympathetic as its perspective is, still seems rigged for maximum choir preach."
<p>Now this is a story we're all too familiar with: <em>Blackmail Boys</em> follows the rambunctious scamp Sam, who after moving to Chicago for art school starts turning tricks to make ends meet. Sam's long-distance, long-term boyfriend Aaron decides to join him in order to find work so his boyfriend can stop having sex for money. The two then decide to get married and move to a state where that's possible and find their financial straights only get worse...that is until Aaron catches Sam with a prominent client and things get serious. Oh to be twenty again....</p><p></p>The film's one review comes from Mark Halcomb at <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-01-26/film/blackmail-boys-a-wasted-premise-of-same-sex-romance-and-noir-lite-potboiler/">The Voice</a> and it's none too impressed: "A wispy mix of boy-boy romance and noir-lite potboiler, the Shumanski brothersâ (<em>Wrecked</em>) latest wastes a promising premise by loading up on tender whimsy and skimping on grit. If youâve ever wondered how Gregg Arakiâs cinematic sensibilities might fuse with mumblecore mopery, <em>Blackmail Boys</em> is your answer.<p></p>"<em>Blackmail Boys</em> is enlivened by the Shumanskisâ jarring, customarily graphic sex scenes and understated humor (Aaron ponders whether 'cocksucking Christian' is hyphenated as he scribbles a blackmail note), but lazily resists a resolution in which anyone but the obvious heavy pays a real price. That characterâs hypocrisy is punished, but its wider implications evaporate along with the filmâs central partners-in-crime setup."
<em>Personally, I liked the university. They gave us money and facilities, we didn't have to produce anything! You've never been out of college! You don't know what it's like out there! I've <strong>worked</strong> in the private sector. They expect <strong>results</strong>. </em><p></p>Need your Ivan Reitman fix and don't really want to see <em>No Strings Attached</em>? No need to worry, just head on down to the <a href="http://www.landmarktheatres.com/Market/NewYork/NewYork_frameset.htm">Landmark Theater</a> where Sunshine at Midnight proudly presents the NYC classic <em>Ghostbusters</em>. The way things are going we wouldn't be surprised if out of work college professors began setting up crazy start-ups like this one. If you haven't seen this classic of NYC films then go check it out then walk on over to the Hook and Ladder Co. #8 at 14 North Moore Street to see the real Ghostbusters headquarters!
<em>Don't they ever stop migrating?</em><p></p>Also playing this weekend at midnight at <a href="http://www.ifccenter.com/films/the-birds/">The IFC Center</a> is Hitchcock's classic film <em>The Birds</em>. You'll never look at pigeons the same way again. The film is really a classic of suspense and even with the outdated special effects, can be pretty scary at points. They say they locked Tippi Hedren in the room and tied a mess-load of birds to her so that they would fly at her and attack. Do Tippi a favor and see the movie just so that it wasn't in vein.